American Woodcock
resources
American Woodcock Conservation Plan (1.7MB)
This plan was developed in 2008 by the Woodcock Task Force through the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. It is a summary of and recommendations for woodcock conservation in North America.
American Woodcock, A Funding Strategy (2.5MB)
This strategy was developed in 2010 by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' Migratory Shore and Upland Game Bird Support Task Force. It contains recommendations for obtaining priority information needed to improve habitat and harvest management decisions for migratory populations of American woodcock, focusing on evaluating and improving knowledge of monitoring efforts, vital rates (survival, reproduction, and recruitment), and habitat needs during the annual cycle of these birds. The Strategy is intended to increase financial support for management and research activities over the next 5 to 10 years with thoughtful and deliberate planning built on basic scientific principles.
American Woodcock Interim Harvest Strategy (344.1KB)
This strategy was developed in 2010 by an interagency Woodcock Harvest Strategy Working Group comprising representatives from the Atlantic, Mississippi and Central Flyways, USFWS, and the U.S. Geological Survey. This strategy was developed to make more informed decisions about woodcock harvest management in the U.S.
A Landowners Guide to Woodcock Habitat Management in the Northeast, May 1994 (1.3MB)
For nearly five decades wildlife biologists have studied the life history of the woodcock and the factors affecting its welfare. The ultimate aim has been to insure that woodcock can be maintained in adequate numbers, in the face of increasing human demands on natural resources, and with decreasing wildlife habitat. From the biologists' studies several important publications have resulted, especially in the northeastern states, which are in the heart of woodcock breeding range. These publications emphasized the biology of the bird and its environmental needs. They treated only in general terms the specific steps that the small landowner could take to enhance his property for woodcock by economically feasible methods. This booklet is aimed at filling that gap. It is for the landowner who is not a biologist, but who wants to do something for woodcock on his or her own land.
Woodcock in the Southeast: Natural History & Management for Landowners
This bulletin describes woodcock habits, habitat needs, and habitat improvements that can help landowners increase woodcock numbers. This bulletin is aimed primarily at the Carolinas, Georgia, and northern Florida.
American Woodcock Singing-Ground Survey
The American Woodcock Singing-Ground Survey, conducted by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, exploits the conspicuous courtship display of the male woodcock. The survey consists of numerous road-side survey routes in the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada, which are surveyed in the spring. Counts of singing male woodcock along the routes provide an index to woodcock abundance, and are used to estimate woodcock population trends for states, provinces, management regions, and the continent. The survey is the major source of information considered in the annual setting of woodcock hunting seasons. These data can also be used to examine the effects of weather, landscape change, and other factors on woodcock population abundance.
• To obtain the annual status report for this species, please visit our Population Status page
• To obtain count data for this survey, please visit our Migratory Bird Data Center
American Woodcock Wing Collection Survey
The primary objective of the Wing-collection Survey is to provide data on the reproductive success of woodcock. The survey is administered as a cooperative effort between woodcock hunters, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and state wildlife agencies. Participants in the survey included hunters who either: (1) participated in past surveys; (2) were a subset of hunters that indicated on the Harvest Information Program Survey that they hunted woodcock, or (3) contacted the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to volunteer for the survey.
Final Reports for Projects Funded through the Webless Migratory Game Bird Program (2012 - present)
Spatial characteristics of early successional habitat across the Upper Great Lakes states.
Additional American Woodcock resources can be located at the websites below.
Timberdoodle.org
Woodcock Limited
Ruffed Grouse Society
The Young Forest Project